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Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Losing All That Talent

It is always gratifying to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, and this time, the mainstream media (and Bernama at that) does not disappoint when it acknowledges that Malaysia is losing a lot of talent to the rest of the world.

This, of course, is something that the average Malaysian has known for a very long time.

It is only the BN government that is too busy putting its 1Malaysia plan (People First, Performance Now) into action to notice the great exodus.

"We are not developing talent and what we have is leaving," the NEAC says.

The report says industry players often lament the absence of right skills in the market, suggesting mismatch between the skills provided by the education system and those demanded by firms.

The most recent assessment by the World Bank suggests that firms have become increasingly concerned about information technology (IT) skills, technical and professional skills of Malaysian workers and complaints about inadequate creativity and proficiency in the English language.

It is hardly surprising.

Talent generally decides to depart for greener pastures when the political climates gets unstable.

With the racial and religious issues like the cow-head and church-burning issues, the numerous deaths in custody, usage of the Internal Security Act on political opponents, I believe Talent is highly motivated to leave.

The majority of those who are left behind are the twinkling stars of affirmative action.

This affirmative action is what allows a faction to enter the shorter and simpler pre-university matriculation programme, while others are either forced to go through the STPM (Higher School Certificate) for two years or wing it on their own through private colleges.

Obviously, there is going to be a difference in standards.

The quick-fix matriculation programme could hardly be expected to provide superior technical and professional skills.

And it would be an exercise in futility to elaborate on the issue of proficiency in the English language when it has been ruled that the education system has reverted to teaching Maths and Science in Bahasa Melayu instead of English.

The government, hand-in-hand with the MSM may attempt to reach into complicated and sophisticated-sounding solutions like 'revert to sustained and systematic programmes' and 'better collaboration between private sector employers and universities'.

However, the simple truth is, abolishing discriminatory practices would go a long way in retaining and building up Talent.